Whew. Summer is packing a punch this year. Even though I’ve been enjoying this weather from a pool perspective, it’s getting a bit old. Lots of sun and no rain. It’s starting to feel like Colorado around here, and that is not necessarily a good thing since no one here can water their lawns because most of us are on wells in the country. Even people in larger towns do not have the in-ground sprinkler systems that are absolutely necessary there. Our lawn is crisping up and there isn’t much we can do about it. We water our new landscaping in the front only as needed. Where is the rain? I am tired of seeing the relentless sun every day!
The season is starting its decline though. The sun’s angle is lower week by week. Areas of the pool that used to stay in the sun until late afternoon are now shaded. Soon that will lead to a cooler pool temperature than the steady 82 degrees that it’s been maintaining for a over a month now.
At least one person is benefitting from all these brown, crispy lawns. A man who owns a company spraying lawns green with dye is making lots of money. Can you imagine? What does that say about us culturally? We’re so into our green perfect lawns that we would dye them green and potentially harm the environment? He states that his dye is safe for children and pets but I have to wonder. Unless he’s using food coloring! Will the grass need its roots touched up as well?
The other morning I was in the computer room when I heard Bella bark. I thought she wanted to go out, but when I got to the sun room she was looking up at the screen door. Clinging to the inside of the screen was a large green bug. mom, there’s an intruder in the house and i don’t know what it is! Me either, Bella. Never seen one like this before. When I tried to capture it to take it outside it emitted a noise not unlike a cicada, only it wasn’t a cicada. This got everyone’s attention, cats and dog alike. what is that thing? I took this video so I could try and identify it later on.
Bella was very intrigued by it. I think it was injured to begin with because it could not fly away.
The next morning there was another one clinging to the outside basement wall of the house. I took photos and headed off to Google it. I typed in “green bug that looks like a grasshopper but is not” and came up with a solution. Meet Mr./Mrs. Katydid.
We’ve long thought the the cicadas were getting back up from something else like crickets, and here is the proof. But why haven’t we ever seen one before?
The turkeys come around every day and I usually give in and feed them some sunflower seeds and cracked corn. I have one that comes all by itself early in the morning and it just stands there looking at the house, willing the front door to open and for me to come and throw a few handfuls of food out. The other day around midday the big turkey family came (three hens and assorted aged babies) and I went out to feed them. The dumb clucks left instead of hanging around to eat the food and I figured the squirrels, birds and chipmunks would make short order of it. When I looked out an hour later this is what I saw instead.
oops. I’ve done this countless times before without bear visits. Trust me, this was not intentional! Not the same little cub as in the previous post; this one is probably a yearling.
what do you mean this isn’t my food bowl?
who is that crazy lady hanging out the window up there talking to me?
i think i heard something
Right after I took this photo the cub ran off into the shelter of the woods and halfway up a tree. I don’t know what it heard that spooked it, but it was afraid of something. A few minutes later it decided it was safe and back it came.
I’ve been keeping my eye on these grapes growing by the side of our street. Concord grapes. They are tasty and sweet but have a lot of pits! If we don’t get some rain they will just turn into raisins on the vine! I hope not as I plan to snatch them the minute they get ripe.
We had a full weekend with a picnic to Bear Mountain, dog walks, farmer’s market and pool time. On Saturday night we did something we’ve talked about doing for a long time. We “camped out” in the cabana for a while. After our nighttime swim we brought out the air mattress and pillows and just lay there listening to the cicadas (and katydids!). We both fell asleep and sometime later I felt Rick shaking me awake. Time to go back inside before the dogs miss us.
(taken this way on purpose! I happen to like warped nighttime photos.)
Sorry for the rambling post about a mishmash of things. I just sat down and started typing and this is what came out!
I have more to share this week with photos of our drive to Harriman State Park and Bear Mountain on Saturday and the surprise we got on Sunday morning while washing Mia, so stay tuned!
These photos were taken by my next-door-neighbor, Aileen, on Monday. They were too cute not to share! She said this tiny cub was hanging out on her deck for about a half an hour. No mother was around, so it looks like it’s an abandoned cub. It seems to be wondering if their wooden bear might be a good surrogate. It looks kind of right, but it sure doesn’t smell right!
The sad thing is it might be one of the three cubs that were left to fend on their own when their mother was euthanized about a month ago. (The rogue bear that knocked down a man and swiped at his dog in Jungle Habitat.) It looks about the right size because they were “about the size of a Pomeranian” when their mother was killed.
I haven’t seen it around my yard ... yet, but I’ll be keeping a close eye out for the dear little thing.
Ever since fellow blogger, Lettuce Eating, visited New York City (she lives in London) and told me how she went on this food tour, I’ve been longing to do it. What better excuse to finally just “do it” than hosting a visitor over the weekend last week? Anne-Lise (the daughter of our dear friends in France) took a few days out from her busy college schedule in Quebec to come and stay with us. Since we had not seen her since she was 8 years old it was nice to “meet” the wonderful grown woman she has become at age 22! Where did the years go?
We drove in to the city and left early in case the traffic was all snarled up, which if course it wasn’t and we arrived at the closest parking garage to our meeting point in the Village in just over one hour. Amazing! It still seems unreal to me that we live that close to NYC and that Rick is brave enough to drive in Manhattan!
Here is the only photo I took while inside. It was really crowded, so kind of hard to get photos of all the luscious cheeses and other cool things they had to offer. You can buy these “gift” boxes!
Our first tasting stop was Joe’s Pizza. Did you happen to notice that pizza pie at the beginning of the post? Hmm ... how could you not? I hope it made you hungry because it was certainly delicious! I thought we would each get just a bite of pizza, but we had one whole slice to ourselves. Our guide, Barri, gave us the background history on Joe’s and how they make their sauce. No big list of topping ingredients here. Just your basic tomato sauce and cheese on top of a wonderfully thin crust. Photos of a younger Joe posing with famous people covered the walls. As we left the store we actually got to see “Joe” standing outside talking to someone. Hey, a “celebrity” sighting!
Next we sampled rice balls (or arancini) from Faicco’s Italian Specialty Food Shop (Previously Faicco’s Pork Store) which is right next door to Murray’s Cheese. That’s our guide passing them out. We ate on the street because the shop is just too small to fit us all in at the same time.
Even though they took the pork out of the name, the pig remains on the sign. *oink, oink*
Just look at this line up of wonderful food shops: Amy’s Bread, The Lobster Place (we just peeked in here—so much wonderful looking fresh fish!), Murray’s Cheese Shop and Faicco’s all in a row! Bread, fish, cheese and pork. The only thing missing is a butcher shop for beef.
Our guide told us a lot about the the area and different buildings. I even learned something new about how to tell how old a brick house was by they way the bricks are laid. She pointed out places along the way where a film or television series had been shot. We saw the outside of the house where contestants from the Next Network Food Star were housed a few years ago, the church garden where most of the garden scenes from the movie Doubt were filmed, and the outside of the building that was supposed to be where they lived on Friends. I never watched the show so I didn’t have a clue.
It’s quiet and lovely and at times hard to believe you are still in the city. And, from what we understand, extremely pricey to live here now. No more starving poets and artists. You pretty much have to have “made it” to live in the Village today.
After the rice balls we headed to Home (American Gourmet Comfort food). In this tiny little restaurant we got to sit down and eat in their little courtyard garden in back. By this time it had started to drizzle so the chef rolled out the awnings for us.
Our tasting here was none other than comfort food at its best: Mac & Cheese. This was not your average Mac & Cheese though ... yum. Go ahead, take a bite. You know you want to.
We visited the Cornelia Street Café which has club space downstairs in the basement for aspiring poets, musicians, and storytellers. It’s like a cave down there and very reminiscent of the old beatnik days. The stage is tiny. Our guide told us that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick had their first date here. You can tell how narrow it is by looking at us all standing around. When we resurfaced, it was pouring rain! oh dear. Some people came prepared but others did not.
Our guide herded us back over to Faicco’s to the shelter of their large awnings as the rain continued to pour from the sky. While she went in search of some rain ponchos for those that were not prepared for the rain, we all got a chance to go inside the “pork store.” Those are huge “logs” of provolone cheese hanging from the ceiling!
Our next stop was another sit-down tasting which got us out of the rain. By this time I was so full I could barely put another bite of anything into my mouth. They say that the tasting tour is “enough for people to eat so lunch is not usually necessary afterwards.” Hah! That’s a slight understatement. Soy and Sake (Asian inspired Vegetarian Restaurant) was something completely different. We were presented with a beautiful little Bento box full of goodies: BBQ pork (really tofu but tasted a lot like the real thing), fried rice, a dumpling and some delicious fried seaweed.
The other nice thing was the chance to order a glass of wine or sake if we wanted to. (Cost not included in the tour price.) Rick was intrigued by something on the menu called Sake2me described as a “sparkling drink infused with all-natural Asian flavors.” He chose the pear flavor. Stupid me, since I don’t really care for sake I didn’t order one but had white wine instead. His Sake2me was absolutely delicious: light and so refreshing! My wine paled in comparison. I’ve since tried to find it around here but right now it looks like no one is carrying it. I highly recommend trying to find it! Where are Rowan & Martin when you need them?
Back out on the sidewalk again it had (thankfully) mostly stopped raining. Well, at least it wasn’t pouring. The dessert course was up next at Milk & Cookies where we ate huge still-warm-from-the-oven oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I ate half of mine and saved the rest for later.
But wait! We aren’t done yet! We still have the cheese and olive platter over at Murray’s Cheese Shop and last but not least, cannolis at Rocco’s Pastry Shop which have been voted the best cannolis in NY! Rocco’s is only a few doors down from Murray’s, Amy’s etc., and across the street. Good thing I don’t live in this neighborhood.
Whew! Are you full yet? Did you have enough to eat our would you like some lunch now?
Which one was my favorite you might ask? Well…a close tie between the pizza and mac & cheese. Least fav were the rice balls I think. They were good, but heavy.
Now that we’ve been on this tour there are so many restaurants we passed by and heard about that I want to go back to. Like Fish where for $8.00 you can get a half dozen oysters on the half shell with a glass of beer or wine. Uhm ... do I need to point this out — bargain!! And, I am certain that is exactly what they hope the people on the tour will do: come back and patronize their establishments. Works for me!
I’ll leave you with a somewhat hazy view of Manhattan taken from the Jersey side of the Hudson from Weehawken just as we got out of the Lincoln Tunnel. (Jersey really does have the best view of Manhattan—forget the Empire State Building!)
There are a few other food tours that we’d now like to take after having been on this one. The one to Chelsea Market and the one in Chinatown sound the best. It was so interesting to taste the food and get a lesson on history and architecture all at the same time. I highly recommend the experience next time you happen to visit the Big Apple!
Here is the link to the tour we went on. Other tours are listed on the page as well.
P.S. Be sure to click on all the provided links to visit each restaurant’s/shop’s web site. If there is no link there isn’t a web site!
P.P.S. If you have no clue what I am talking about in my reference to Rowan & Martin you are probably too young to be reading this blog.
No, I am not talking about the TV show which I have never watched. (Hey, I don’t watch all those Jersey shows!)
I am talking about our pool. Our recent weather. Our true summer. Simply Jerseylicious.
Tonight Rick and I sat around after dinner thinking about swimming. Neither one of us really felt like it. No energy. I said to Rick I think we should at least go out and test the pool temperature and go from there.
Hello!
The water temperature was absolutely perfection as well as the cicada background symphony.
We swam lap upon lap. Just one more we promised each other, yet neither one of us could stop.
There is something to be said about swimming at night. Sans suits. Cicadas singing. The rest of the world recedes.
We swim until we simply can’t anymore, promising each other to get up and swim again before we’ve even had our morning coffee.
The days of summer are all too short and soon the pool will be a distant memory.
I don’t even know if I should admit this or not, but I am addicted to two “Jersey” shows. The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Jersey Couture. Oh. There I said it out loud. Totally. Completely. Addicted. And I’m not really sure why. Do these shows really portray Jersey? No, not really. But they are real people. If you don’t watch you might not want to read on ...
I guess I like watching Housewives because they are always going to some place I have been or know of. Like the boutique Posche. I’ve been in there. Too rich for my taste, but I have been in and long before it appeared on the show. Some of the restaurants too. They go to the salon for their hair and nails in the same little shopping center where the Market Basket is in Franklin Lakes. It’s weird. Danielle seems to hang out in the Preakness Mall in Wayne, and after all that’s where she lives: Wayne. I go to the Preakness Mall a lot. I’ve not seen her yet ...
The dental assistant that works for my dentist (where I spent a good three hours last week having a crown pulled off and prepped for a new one ... ugh) has seen Carolyn’s two sons, Chris and Albie at the Brownstone restaurant. She said she went there for two weddings recently and they were both working the floor. Plus, her husband is a cop in the Haledon/Paterson area and he just happened to be at the Brownstone when Danielle created such a scene. He’s also pulled Dina over for speeding. Too bad Dina left the show, I really liked her.
The other show, Jersey Couture, is in its first season. Right now you can catch it in repeats as the season finale was last week. I’ll miss it! Unlike Housewives there is less drama. Just a wonderful close-knit family going about their lives for everybody to see! They own a high end dress shop, Diane & Co, in Freehold, New Jersey. Mom, Dad, son and two daughters all work in the shop. I enjoy seeing the formals people buy just as much as I enjoy the interaction between the family members. If I had any excuse to buy a fancy dress or formal I would love to go there and meet them all. It’s not over the top, just enjoyable to watch.
What can I say? I don’t watch soap operas, so I have to get some drama from somewhere, don’t I?
Welcome, I'm Lynne. You know me better as a 'new' Jersey Girl. But now I've moved once again, this time to North Carolina. Here I write about my thoughts, good food, and of course, dogs.
